Police Arrest 217 Suspected Bandits, Recover N93m in Kaduna

John Shiklam in Kaduna

The Kaduna State Police Command has arrested 217 suspected kidnappers, armed robbers, bandits and cattle rustlers among others.
The police also recovered N93 million and 180,070 Saudi Arabian Riyadh, including 43 assorted guns from the suspects.

Parading the suspects in Kaduna yesterday, the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Umar Muri, said the arrest were made between April 29 and June 22, 2020 following a review of strategy in combating crime in the state.

Besides Muri said fake currencies which included $5.7 million, €200,000, 210,000 CFA and N2.7 million notes were recovered from the suspects.

He said: “The security situation in Kaduna State has been relatively stabilised recently,” noting that “this would not be unconnected with continuous review of the operational strategies of the command in collaboration with other sister security agencies.”

According to Muri, “the 217 suspects include those who engaged in armed banditry, armed robbery, kidnapping, cattle rustling, culpable homicide, shop breaking, theft and other related crimes.”

He said arms and ammunition, including seven AK47 rifles, one type 06 rifle with breech No.20900, two locally-made pistols, two English-made pistols, 22 locally-made guns, three revolver pistols and two revolver rifles were also recovered.

Also recovered from the suspects are 1,113 rounds of AK47 live ammunition, 16 rounds of live cartridges, 26 empty shells of AK47 rifle, 17 sharp knives/cutlasses, 11 matchetes/swords, a bow and arrow and a drilling machine.

“We equally recovered, 2,400 bags of Chikun poultry feeds valued at N8.3 million and 23, (823) 25Kg bags of rice, 10 motor vehicles of different brands, 31 motorcycles of different brands, 15 Plasma televisions – valued at N8.6 million, 833 rustled cows, 20 rustled sheep, 14 mobile cell phones of different brands, nine laptops (Lenovo & Del), six fake police ID cards…” the police commissioner said.

Muri called on members of the public to be wary, as there is proliferation of fake local and foreign currencies as well as fake transaction alerts, which have been in circulation within and outside the state.

“It may interest you to know that in this direction, the command has made another breakthrough by arresting a fraudster who specialises in creating fake transaction alerts of any amount to defraud his victim.

“The suspected fraudster was arrested in possession of a Mercedes Benz car, procured from the coined fake alert of N1.8 million,” Muri stated.
He said the command, in its continuous fight against all forms of criminalities, had intensified surveillance and raided drugs peddling points, with a view to getting rid of drugs trafficking in the state.